Danger, Will Robinson

by Dan Jacoby

The old TV series "Lost in Space" featured a silly robot who was constantly warning the crew of dangers that may or may have actually existed.

The Bush administration invaded Iraq in violation of international law, threw American citizens into what can best be described as dungeons in violation of the U.S. Constitution, spent tens of billions of dollars on "security measures", and wants to spend trillions more over the next decade, all on the stated premise of making America more secure. Now, C.I.A. Director George Tenet says that we're in even greater danger than ever.

When Saddam Hussein was captured, then-presidential candidate Howard Dean said we weren't any safer as a result. He was attacked on all sides for his statement, especially by a gleeful Bush team. Now we find out that the Bush administration believes, and probably believed all along, that Howard Dean was right.

To be fair, President Bush and his team are caught, in an election year, between a rock and a hard place. If they say we're not safer or more secure, they can't defend their actions to date. They can't defend the loss of over 500 Americans in Iraq, because it hasn't helped. They can't defend repeated violations of the Constitution, including the so-called "U.S.A. Patriot Act", because it hasn't helped. They can't defend any of the actions of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, because he has failed to provide the homeland security for which he was hired.

On the other hand, if they say we are safer, they're equally screwed. They can't continue throwing Americans they don't like into dungeons. They can't continue listening in on private conversations between innocent citizens and their lawyers. But most of all, from the Bush team's standpoint, they can't use national security as an issue in the upcoming election.

Thanks to President Bush's irresponsible economic policy, we now have record deficits. Thanks to his incompetent foreign policy, America now has more enemies than ever before. Thanks to his inept education policy, schools have no money and no way of following federal law. For most Americans, the answer to the standard election question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" is a resounding "No!" And the Bush administration, for all their rhetoric, has nobody to blame but themselves.

So the Bush political team desperately needs an issue on which the President can appear to be strong, regardless of the facts. Apparently, they've decided that nobody in America will blame the President for failing to make America more secure during his first term, but that we'll trust him to do so during his second term.

The only real danger will be if their assessment of American opinion is right.

 

Copyright 2004, Dan Jacoby

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